I promise.

While I promise, promise, promise that this blog will not become baby-hungry, I have to have just this one to say that we're ecstatic! Thank you all for your congratulatory remarks and words of awesomeness. We dig it.

Speaking of digging, yesterday I had my 13 week check up and that sonographer just dug her little ultrasound wand into my tummy for what felt like 15 min straight! A word to the wise - do not go to the OB with a full bladder! That was excruciatingly painful to hold back. But it was all worth it to see the baby flutter around and hear the heart beat! 2 things I learned. #1 - Our baby has a beautifully formed brain. The doc even drew the attention of the sonographer to the perfectly formed brain mass, commenting on its perfection. Cool. #2 - the Doc may have a crush on JO. "Now you, sir, you're quite handsome" - something like that was said and I was rather taken back. Why no comments on my attraction level? Is JO the only one contributing to the looks of this child? Why do I not merit the doctors remarks of beauty? I even brought it up that night at the dinner table. Jared assured me that I was pretty, and sometimes pretty girls are stuck with not-so attractive guys and the doc was surprised that I could find someone to match my beauty. Not buying it, but ok.

While we still have about 7 weeks until we know the little gender, my eyes have been perusing etsy and you'll just have to die like I did when you see these.

Look at the little Mary Janes!



And the loafers!


Bahh!! I think my child's wardrobe is going to be more expensive than the medical bill! Anywho, that's all the baby-ness I have to say until we find out if we're having a little lady or gent.

We're going beach camping this weekend with JO's family. It was forecasted to be a splendid weekend, until I decided to capture a sore throat and a cold. Now I am not looking forward to 3 nights on an air mattress with kleenex piling up in the corner of the tent. Boo. I never knew my body could be this exhausted until I coupled pregnancy with sickness.

"MEET THE OAKDENS" - an independent film

Jared and I have been working towards the debut of this movie for the past couple of months. We had so much fun making our "GOT BIKES" video that we conjured up the idea for this one - except this one has a much more DYNAMIC ending. Sit back, munch on some popcorn and without further ado, we present "MEET THE OAKDENS."

Picture Overload

I'm now using the blog as my main source of picture updating rather than facebook. Oh well. Pictures make for better story-telling sometimes than words.

2 weekends ago we went back to Fresno to visit our families. Somehow out of the 3 days we were there, this is the only photo I managed to snap:

I'm lucky that my husband gets along so well with my brothers.

This past weekend, we decided to yet again take advantage of the freebee stuff in LA, so we tackled the California Science Center. We were thoroughly impressed with the quality of exhibits. The center is exhibiting EGYPT right now and mummies, so there was a whole section dedicated to Egyptian life and excavation, with each section having a hands-on activity for kids - except for the embalming, no hands-on there.The ecosystems hall was by far the most extensive. We watched a kelp forest show, where they had a scuba diver swimming in a tank and talking about the sealife around her and answered people's questions. I thought that was pretty neat. Basically this place is great for kids, but since Jared and I can act like kids when we want, we liked the groove of the place. And outside the museum there's a gorgeous Rose Garden, so we passed part of the afternoon on a park bench and wandered through the maze of rose beds.



Sunday Morning - 4th of July! One of my favorites. Our church was postponed from 10am to 1pm, due to a city parade, so we had the whole morning to ourselves. Jared and I read Elder Oak's talk "The Divinely Inspired Constitution," and then we watched "A More Perfect Union". We were geared up for the day! We bbq'd with my grandparents and in the evening we roasted smores on our propane hibatchi grill and watched the fireworks... on tv. Sad, sad, I know! But Santa Monica doesnt do fireworks on the 4th, so we resorted to watching NY live, which was pretty awesome too.

Whew, so Monday came around. It was cloudy and a bit misty. What to do? Go for a hike! We ventured up to the Malibu hillsides and did a 2.5 mile hike up Solstice Canyon. We were flabbergasted at the scenery. There were amber waves of grain on the hillsides, rolling mountains, burnt trees, green trees, waterfalls - it was quite an escape from the city. So this trail passed through an old home built in the 1950's that burned down in the 80's. The house is tucked away in a hillside, surrounded by trees and a babbling brook. The foundation and walls are still intact, and it's not eerie in any way, but definitely thrilling. We played around in the house for a bit before we headed back home to do some surf-watching, thrift store shopping and GRE studying. If you live in LA, you should most DEFINITELY try this hike. There are 2 ways to get to the dilapidated house - one takes you through the hillside, but the other is just a paved road that used to be the driveway to the home - so kids can easily do the hike!